Now see the port lett winds & waters warr
You madam triumph in your happy starr
& as the Pilot safe arrivd from shore
With pleasure hears tumultuous billows roar
With pleasure sees the tempest toss the seas
for even dangers in a prospect please
so now look back & view with such delight
Your great deliv'rance when the court you quitt
While your retirements give you certain ease
& calmer hours to spend in virtues wayes
Believe me nymph no common grace inspires
When any from this dang'rous place retires
Where the small boats or ships that proudly ride
Meet the same wracking winds & driving tide
The courts involvd in errors endless night,
You see, but with a false deceiving light,
Its splendour cheats & does at once surprize
Nor less your Judgement suffers than your eyes
None there the lookes of simple nature wears
theres none without disguise & art appears
the fault is publick & a custom grown
that scarce a soul without its masque is shown
The young the old the little & the great
With miens affected & feignd colours cheat
Now gay now sad & never long the same,
they change to suit the time or serve their aim.
Friendship unsound, caresses unsincere,
& praises with a faint malicious air,
Low flattrys, oaths on purpose made to cheat,
& all the glossy varnish of deceit
the supple courtiers masquing dress compleat
What greater dangers can be mett with there
Where lions rage & dragons poison air
With open forces to destroy they run
& can be shunnd because they can be known
But at ye court the Lions like the deer
& dragons like the gentle lambs appear
Assist us heavn where such disguisements reign
Or human wisdom will assist in vain
When borrowed Manners all our fears remove
& feather out the vultur like the dove
Where as in woods in which the robbers live
We're lost by innocence by rapin thrive
& all around us scarce we hear a noise
but of the robd or of the robbers voice
there by a strange but often tryd device
On wrecks of houses greater houses rise
Which suffring in their turn make others great
& raise them high in view for marks to fate.
Thus nothing stands at court on stable ground
Not you your self have always favour found
Yet wonder not that while your beautys reign
While the bright Loves & Graces form yr train
the winds are high bring envy on their wing
& ruffle all the glorys of your spring
Evn on the breast of Flora where it grows
Spight of its charms rude blasts will discompose
the sweet carnation or the lovely rose
Nor think you've lost yr freedoms rather savd
for to be there you must have been enslavd
All courts are gallys painted dazzling fair
Where the great slaves their chains wth glory wear
In golden chains at polishd oars they sweat
thus undergoing drudgerys of state
But what availes this mighty pomp & shine
No yoak is less a yoak for being fine
those abject slaves who to their oar confind
With heavy pains supply the want of wind
Whose arm the badge whose feet the fetters wear
Are less inthralld then fortunes prisoners here
These suffer deeper in a better part
& tho the legs unbound enslave the heart
their words when words are free in all beside
Or to their close or known designs are ty'd
Dependance is the common servile case
& the free-will a stranger to the place
the tyrant passions tread fair meritt down
& their proud thrones erect above the crown
their wretched captives many bonds secure
for love ambition avarice make ym sure
But we may yet much greater ills declare
for much impiety infects its air
The blessed Gospell courtiers can believe
A sett of fables minted to deceive
That canopys of state where monarchs reign
Are Heav'ns on earth & Heav'n a Fairy scene
The courts no ground where virtues often grow
Their proper soil is less exposd & low
Retirement means the tempting world to shun
& when thats quitted virtues workes begun
To fly with safety is to conquer here
& scaping triumphs ore a baffled snare
Tis true the pow'r above in ev'ry place
Dispenses flames divine & heav'nly grace
That Lillys may have grown on thorny ground
& there a Glorious Anna may be found
but yet the priviledge is rarely known
Like Arethusa's fabled stream to run
tis hard to roll along the briny sea
With pure untainted waters all the way
Your life has made the common fable true
& few I fear at court will follow you
How few coud ever keep themselves from blame
If the great gifts that crown you tempted them
The bright enchantments of unbounded witt
With charms adornd in easy nature sweet
The rank you held besett with ev'ry vice
Which follow pleasures or from grandeur rise.
